BIO
Will Doughty brings passion and vision to his work that inspires actors to play with their creative process.
Hi, have we met?
I‘m Will Doughty, founder and creator of Off Book Acting and the Story First System. I am a teacher and a coach here for actors who are seeking a streamlined, consistent and freedom-driven acting process.
Throughout my 20+ years in the entertainment industry, I always felt like something was missing from my acting classes. There was a clear gap between the technique of acting and the joy of performance. I found myself getting stuck in that gap, because most classes would keep me in my head and overthinking my performance. I felt bound by my preparation which stopped my spontaneity and freedom. Improvisation was the only way to bring the joy back to my acting process. But improv does not solve all the problems when I have a script in my hand.
My pursuit as an acting teacher has been to create a class that I would want to take: one that bridges the gap between preparation and performance. Enter, Off Book Acting!
What I now teach and coach to other actors initially began as a transformational solution to my own acting problem. I learned how to give myself permission to explore and experiment with my audition preparation by improvising rehearsal “takes” before I memorized my lines and walked into auditions. This has led me to book work on NBC, Comedy Central, Showtime and in feature films as well as over a dozen national commercials.
The Story First System is just one slice of my methodology as a teacher. Over the past 10 years, I have taken the tools and skills of improvisation and adapted them to reading a script in order to help actors have standout, dynamic performances take after take.
Welcome to Off Book Acting and Story First!